The world’s languages, in 7 maps and charts

These seven maps and charts, visualized by The Washington Post, will help you understand how diverse other parts of the world are in terms of languages.

1. Some continents have more languages than others

Not all continents are equally diverse in the number of spoken languages. Whereas Asia leads the statistics with 2,301 languages, Africa follows closely with 2,138.

There are about 1,300 languages in the Pacific, and 1,064 in South and North America. Europe, despite its many nation-states, is at the bottom of the pack with just 286.

2. These are the languages with the most native speakers

Chinese has more native speakers than any other language, followed by Hindi and Urdu, which have the same linguistic origins in northern India. English comes next with 527 million native speakers. Arabic is used by nearly 100 million more native speakers than Spanish.

The numbers are fascinating because they reflect the fact that two-thirds of the world's population share only 12 native languages. Those numbers were recently published by the University of Düsseldorf's Ulrich Ammon, who conducted a 15-year-long study.

His numbers are surprising, compared with the ones featured in the CIA's Factbook. According to the CIA, Spanish is spoken by 4.85 percent of the world's population and its use is even more widespread than English, which is spoken by 4.83 percent. However, the CIA numbers include only first native languages. Many people are bilingual, and whereas Spanish might be their first native language, English could be their second one. Ammon counts both first and second native language speakers.

The number for Portuguese is smaller than other sources suggest because not all Brazilians are native speakers. Some might also be surprised that Korean does not show up on the list: Indeed, it is nearly as widely spoken as Italian.

3. This map shows the countries with the most and least diversity of languages

As our visualization of Greenberg's diversity index shows, the United States is not as linguistically diverse as many other nations.

If you randomly select two people in Cameroon, for instance, there is a 97 percent likelihood that they will have different mother tongues. In the United States, there is only a 33 percent likelihood that this is going to happen. You can click on the various countries shown in the map above to find out how the United States compares with other countries.

4. Many popular languages are spoken in more than just one country

The reason why English, French and Spanish are among the world's most widespread languages has its roots in the imperial past of the nations where they originate.

5. English is widely used as an official language

However, whether a country has English as its official language says little about how its citizens really communicate with one another. In some of the nations highlighted above, only a tiny minority learned English as a native language.

6. Nevertheless, most languages are spoken only by a handful of people. That's why about half of the world's languages will disappear by the end of the century

About 3 percent of the world's population accounts for 96 percent of all languages spoken today. Out of all languages in the world, 2,000 have fewer than 1,000 native speakers.

Hence, according to UNESCO estimates, which we visualized in the map above, about half of the world's spoken languages will disappear by the end of the century. You can click on the map to enlarge it.

Linguistic extinction will hit some countries and regions harder than others. In the United States, endangered languages are primarily located along the West coast, as well as in reservations of indigenous people in the Midwest.

Globally,the Amazon rain forest, sub-Saharan Africa, Oceania, Australia and Southeast Asia are about to lose the most languages.

7. This chart shows how many people learn a language all over the world

Whereas English lags behind in the number of native speakers, it is by far the world's most commonly studied language. Overall, more people learn English than French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, German and Chinese combined.

Some languages have only recently gained attention: The number of U.S. colleges that teach Chinese has risen by 110 percent between 1990 and 2013, making the language more accessible. During the same time, the number of offered Russian college courses decreased by 30 percent.

Some language skills could be more rewarding than others. If you are able to speak German, Americans could earn $128,000 extra throughout their career, according to MIT scientist Albert Saiz. At least financially, German is worth twice as much as French and nearly three times as much as Spanish, for instance.

Michel Saloff-Coste has been passionate about technological, economic and social stakes in going from the industrial society to the information society for 20 years now. He works at the crossroads of management, strategy and communication into the future evolution of humanity.

He is devoted to better understanding of the major transformation vectors that metamorphosize our civilization.

How can individuals, companies, countries and the planet join together in a viable, harmonious future?

How can we build learning organizations and implement knowledge management?

Michel Saloff-Coste led monthly meetings at the assessment and future evolution center of the French Ministry of Research and Technology, and was consultant and research director for the Bossard Consulting Group which is now Cap Gemini Arthur Andersen Consulting.

He is currently President of MSC ET ASSOCIES, a research and consulting firm specialized in Management, Strategy and Communication :

In this framework, he advises numerous management teams of international companies.

He is initiator and board member of the capital risk company New Cap Invest.

He is teaching at the Centre de Recherches et d'Etude des Chefs d'Entreprises (CRC) of HEC, a research and development center for company managers;

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Le management systémique de la complexité (literally : The Systemic Complexity Management) published by Aditech Ministère de la Recherche, 1990, reprinted under the title Le management du troisième millénaire (literally : Management of the Third Millenium), published by Guy Trédaniel in 1991 and reprinted 1999 .

Les horizons du futur published by Guy Trédaniel in 2001.

"My objective is to make a wide number of people aware of the major societal transformations that we are going to live through so that everyone can get prepared and seize all possible opportunities by positively participating in building the future civilization".

LINES OF INTERVENTION

What are the major tendencies that transform development of our civilization at planetary level?

What changes are needed in companies in terms of cultural, management, system and structure?

How is your line of business going to change in the context of the information society?